An affluent, dog loving community in Portland, Oregon has decided that there is a limit to how much “tolerance” they have for dogs. Pearl District residents are tired of stepping over & around dogs in the local food stores.
People aren’t complaining until they see major violations, like urinating or pooping on the floor, or a dog grabbing food off the shelf. I love dogs too but having dogs in a food store is a health issue.
Portland is a dog crazy city & they are taking an unusual tact, distributing posters and pamphlets to about 4,500 retail stores that sell food. The message is this: ‘Animals, except those trained to help the disabled, are not allowed.’ And a new poster created by the state says, “Animals that provide support or companionship are not regarded as service animals” for those inclined to stretch the limit of the definition of “service dog.”
For those who just can’t bare leaving their dog outside, the activedogs.com website sells cards that identify your dogs as a service dog for less than $30; the Web site notes that it “is not a certifying agency, nor do we hold any responsibility for information that you have us put on your ID badge.”
If you’ve been itching for an excuse to bring your dog to work with you, tomorrow is perfect. It’s “Take Your Dog to Work” day and dog owners and lovers all over with be bringing their pups into the job.
Before you go, there are some tips you should follow. Remember even though your little guy or gal is the cutest thing out there, not everyone may think so.
The late “Queen of Mean” Leona Helmsley who left her dog millions of dollars in her will after her death wanted much of her money to go to dog charities. Unfortunately for her, a judge ruled that the trustees could decide how to disperse the money. And they decided that the bulk of the money ($136 million) should go toward medical research with only $1 million going to dog charities like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and guide dog training groups instead of $12 million as Helmsley had requested.
Speaking of Dogs in the Will
Star Trek creator the late Gene Roddenberry’s wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry left $4 million so her dogs could be taken care of in the style they had been accustomed. The dogs caretaker will get $1 million. The dogs along with their caretaker will continue to live in one of the mansions.
Martha Stewart, the queen of domesticity lost one of her beloved Chows in a deadly propane blast at a kennel in Pennsylvania. Seventeen dogs were killed when a propane tank exploded during a delivery this past Friday.
A Boca Raton, Florida couple, Edgar and Nina Otto spent $155,000 to clone their beloved yellow Labrador, Lancelot who died of cancer last year.
Nina even sold off some of her jewelry in order to afford the cloning which was done at BioArts, the South Korea biotech research that up until now has been responsible for the several cloned dogs we’ve seen.
The puppy, “Lancelot Encore” is doing well & leading the menagerie of animals at the Otto household.
According to a recent survey, 62% of dog owners believe that they can understand the barks & whines of their pets & that their dogs understand them as well.
The hero dog who saved his buddy after it was hit by a car has still not been found. The dog that was hit unfortunately did die. The highway surveillance video was actually taken in Santiago, Chile on March 23, but there was confusion based on the time stamp on the video.
Thousands of people contacted their local TV news station or the national news station when they saw the video hoping to adopt the hero dog.
Here is a video that my best friend saw on CNN. A dog saves his buddy from oncoming traffic after it was hit by a car. I looks to have been captured on a freeway cam. I watched it & had to put it here. It shows how humane dogs can be.
Unfortunately there is no word on whether the injured dog survived. But if you look closely at the end of the video, you can see a highway worker & the rescue dog in tow.
In Melbourne, Australia a dog named Leo nearly risked his life to save a box of newborn kittens from a house fire. The family of 4 managed to get out with Leo, but the box of kittens were left inside. Leo rushed back in to stand over the kittens. He paid the price for that act of bravery & succumbed to smoke inhalation. Luckily the firemen revived Leo & the kitten were saved too.
Did you know that this month (October) is adopt-a-dog month? Well according to the American Humane Society it is! Too many dogs get put into animal shelters and never leave.
As a kid I lived near the dog pound (as we called it then) & every day after school I’d go down & spend time with the dogs. It always hurt my heart when there would be fewer familiar dogs & more strange ones every day. Many people are irresponsible, they do not spay or neuter their dogs and thus the overpopulation of strays.
Ironically, people go to breeders and spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on purebred dogs, when they could have gone to a shelter and gotten the exact same breed for practically the cost of registration. There are breed specific rescue shelters, so any dog that you just had to have is available on the cheap. So go out there and get a pound puppy.
And check out this page for some humorous reasons why you should adopt a shelter dog.
Speaking of Shelter Dogs
Possible future President Barak Obama & the family are getting a dog. And they have decided to adopt a pound puppy. (Doesn’t every President have a dog?)
Best Friends Animal Society which operates the nation’s largest facility for neglected & abused dogs is stepping in to help.
Best Friends created buzz around the Obamas’ search for a dog in mid-July when it launched the web site, ObamaFamilyDog.com. And within 24 hours approximately 20,000 dog lovers had signed a petition urging the Obamas to adopt their dog from a shelter.
The Obamas have decided to adopt versus buy a dog. I believe that all politicians calculate every move they make to paint them in the most positive light. Do you think it was the petition that swayed them or are they just doing the right thing?
